Effective Writing – What’s the point?

This article provides you insight into the most important part of writing your business document to get the action you desire. If you have been following the “effective writing” threads you know that you are writing a business document to guide the reader into taking action. You are writing the document to their viewpoint and you are including only enough information to support the reader’s decision to take action. The next step is crafting a single statement that tells the reader exactly what to expect from your document.

Purpose

Your document must serve a purpose and that purpose needs to be communicated clearly and succinctly. As an example I began this blog with a purpose statement which states for your action (writing a business document) I will give you (reader) a tool to be more effective (my objective).

This is the most important step in wiring and is the key step to link your thought process to your writing process. The purpose statement is the very first sentence in your business document. It communicates the message to the reader that you are certain about the action this document is meant to influence. It communicates to the reader that you are empathetic to their viewpoint. It communicates that you are not going to waste their time. In the very first sentence you can build credibility and improve the likelihood the reader will read the entire document. The purpose statement tells them why it is important.

Imagine something simple like an email – the first sentence in your email to a colleague is crafted as a purpose statement. “The email contains the new business proposal for your review and comment by Thursday at noon so that we can submit this to production on Monday.” What does this do for me? It tells me that my opinion and critique is important, it has a timeline and production is dependant on my review. It tells me I need to open up the attachment and do my part of the job. This example is not fancy, not complicated and that is the best part. Written communication borders on information overload most days so how do you stand out? Write an effective purpose statement for all your business documents. People will notice and appreciate you taking the time to understand their point of view and as a result more people will take the time to read what you have written and hopefully take the action you expect.

Effective Writing – How much information?

You have started with the most important first steps in writing your business document: You understand that the purpose of the document is so that the audience can take an action. And you are writing to the reader's viewpoint and not to yourself. The next question is how much information needs to be included in the document?

Again, this is another area where you need to keep the reader in mind. Ask yourself, “What information does the reader need to know to make the decision?” Create a list for yourself and guard against including things on the list that you just want to share. Stay focused on what information the reader needs to make a decision.

Now that you have your subject areas outlined, the next step is to decide how much information to include to support the decision making criteria. Is your reader knowledgeable about the subject matter from their point of view? They do not need to be a technical expert, just an informed consumer – keep those separate. Include just enough information to support the decision making criteria and no more. Sometimes this information will be very detailed, sometimes less, it depends on your reader every time – know your reader.

Will the reader generally believe the information you provide? Surprisingly you should answer “Yes” most of the time. If the reader believes the information you are providing to them, then don’t spend time justifying your information. There are times when you will need to justify the informative elements but realize that you need to make a deliberate choice and know why you are providing justification.

Why do you need to carefully analyze the level of detail to provide? It is your job to keep the reader engaged, understand the decision making criteria and lead them to a decision. Too much information and your message can get lost leading to no decision. Too little information and the reader cannot make a decision. Both cases lead to inaction and frustration.

If you want to know more, drop me a line. I am happy to help.

Effective Writing – Dear Reader,…

You are writing a document to your audience because you need to tell them something that is important to you. You are passionate about your subject – are you writing a proposal, and you creating a sales sheet, educating your customer, etc? I know you just want to share your passion but hold on, there is more to consider before you begin to write.

What does you reader need to know to make a decision? Remember a business document is supposed to cause an action. It is important to determine what information is needed to cause this action. Before you start to write consider, from your reader’s viewpoint, what do they need to know to make the decision you want?

You might find that what the reader needs to know is not the same as the information you so passionately want to share. It is important to recognize this distinction. When you begin to write in the way the reader needs information, you begin to become a more effective writer.

Try it – let me know if it helps.

Effective Writing, the beginning

Did you know that every document you write in a business setting is supposed to cause an action? This applies to presentations as well.

When you write to friends, family, or creatively it does not require anyone to do anything. They can read or not – no expectations.

Business is all different.

We write or present to communicate a message that creates action. This includes emails, proposals, reports, position papers, etc. Take a look at the things you write this week. Is there a clear call to action in each document (or presentation)? What do you want the audience to do with the information you just provided? You do want them to do something, right? When you read this blog do you know what action I want you to take? I want you to look at your writing and ask yourself, “So what? What do I want?” and make sure that you answer the question.

Try it – let me know if it helps.

Foundations and Dreams

“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble.” Helen Keller

I came across this quote from Helen Keller and it made me think about how I run my business. I am a dreamer, new ideas fall out of my head all the time. I imagine being able to solve complicated business problems with simple elegant solutions. This quote reminds me that my passion for the big dreams need to be the same passion that cares for the fundamentals of my business. Or put another way – pay attention to the details.

So I’m sharing with you to say dream big and stay passionate to your vision and to the care of your foundation.

Destructive Communication – how we enable it.

One way to look at the negative relationships we find ourselves in is to take a look at how we communicate. A definition for negative communications that Dr. Roger Allen uses is a term called collusion, “a circular and mutually reinforcing negative interaction.”

It goes like this: Boss doesn’t trust Staff to make decisions and so becomes involved in the details of the decision-making. Staff sees Boss as lacking confidence in their decision making so lets Boss make more of the decisions. Boss sees staff not working through the decision making details so takes more responsibility. Staff sees Boss taking work so stops working on the same thing. The Staff stop making decisions.

Wow, that spun out of control fast! Have you seen that before? (If you have teenagers I know you have.)

There are two viewpoints in this downward spiral, Boss and Staff. Each party has viewed the situation from a different perspective and behaved according to their perception. It creates a cycle and we continue to feed it. We continue to view this from our point of view only and don’t realize there could be another reason for this series of interactions.

So as you read this think about difficult relationships you may be in and could you break the cycle? Could you look at communication the other person’s lens?

It is not easy and the secret is trust. If you want to know more send me an email.

Business Goals vs. Personal Goals?

Do the personal goals you have for life align with the goals you have for your business? Have you not ever thought about it like that? Or do you not even know?

If you feel frustrated, unhappy or unproductive at work (or running your business) a contributing factor may be that the things that are important to you are not what is expected of you at work.

For instance, it is important for you to be home for dinner every day to spend some time with the family. Well, maybe you haven’t thought about it that way but your spouse sure gets angry when you keep showing up late or not at all. You have missed your dinners with the family because work has kept you later and later. Those late nights at work are really not very productive for you because you know that when you get home you are in trouble for not being home earlier. Your work output in those late hours is not your best. In fact you can’t focus and you become snappy to your co-workers as the clock approaches 5:00 PM.

What is going on? Subconsciously you are committed to family first or, heck, maybe even those are the words you say but your actions have you putting work first. You have given work the time that they have paid for and now you are giving them free time at the expense of your most important life priority. Well no wonder you are snappy and not so productive! No wonder your spouse is upset, it looks like work is your number one priority!

The great news is that you have choices and can make conscious decisions.

Step 1: Recognize if you personal life goals and your work life goals can live happily together.

Step 2: Let people know what your goals are.

Step 3: Communicate compromises you have to make and give those compromises timelines. If you keep up the same behavior as above you really have chosen work as the first commitment. If it is to finish a project, that project must end and family will be first. Your family will know it because you are home for dinner.

Step 4: Reward yourself for make conscious choices about your life. You are in charge.

Step 5: Repeat.

This isn’t easy and sometimes not very clear at all. If you are frustrated, unhappy, or unproductive take a look at the goals in your life and see if it makes sense to you. This is the beginning of a work-life balance.

If you need help figuring it out, drop me a line, I’d be happy to help.

Create Hope

I was reading in the paper today about the fluctuating economy and the worries it creates about continued employment. Leaders must create hope for future success.

We all know that businesses face the potential of adverse cash situations and there are times when considering layoffs are essential to saving the business. How can you keep your staff focused on delivering quality services and products? Create hope about the future.

Your staff wants to help. They want to make a difference. They can see the risks and the challenges. If you give them hope, a reason to believe that some hard work will help turn the company fortunes around the staff will dig in and perform.

But creating hope is more than words. You act how you think. Let me say that one more time; you act how you think. As the leader of your organization, if you do not believe in your mind that the company can turn around then your words of hope will be empty. Your body language will betray your words and you will lose the focus of your staff.

In tough times create hope for the future. Make plans. Be committed. Tell the staff. Together you will pull through the tough times and be a stronger company and a stronger person.

Systems create money

There are a lot of activities going on in your business. You have the main operations to run, customers to stay in contact with, bills to pay, bills to send, employees to manage, employees to develop, etc. How do you keep this going without losing any critical steps? Build systems.

Systems create order out of chaos. Systems are about the big topics in your business: one for customer relationships, one for inventory, one for accounting, one for sales, etc. And in each system there are many different processes. It is possible to have processes and no system design. In fact, this is very common.

What do systems do for you? It makes sure that you have sufficient inventory to serve your customers. It makes sure that your invoices are sent out timely and your taxes are paid. A system makes sure that each employee is evaluates every year and given opportunities for development.

And how does this create money? Time is money and systems help you create time and manage time. For instance a systemized invoicing process helps this get done faster and invoices sent out sooner. That means money comes back to your business sooner. Money in the bank collects interest.

Creating systems takes some time investment but once it is done you should reap the rewards of efficiency.

Thinking Inside the Boxes

Yes. It is important to think inside the boxes. I'm talking about the boxes that make up your organizational chart. These charts that seem silly to many, important to a few, or maybe just a necessary evil to most; tell a great deal about your leadership and the health of your organization. That's a lot from a bunch of little boxes.

Have you ever been involved in an audit? Always one of the first items requested is the company or department organization chart. It becomes the company's first impression and this is what it can say:

No organization chart exists - this company likely does not have processes in place and consistency, reliability and quality need to be carefully looked at.

The chart looks like a Dilbert cartoon - the company has no clear lines of authority and lack trust in the leadership.

The chart is very detailed with the technical side of the company but is not balanced with quality functions and business functions - there is likely inconsistent quality, if any. If the product is good it is like the business is not healthy because the focus, looking at the chart, is so lopsided to the technicians.

The actual linking of the company's departments - tells lines of authority, responsibility, communication channels, expected processes and systems, oversight, and departmental ranking to company.

The leadership team - this can be deduced from the chart and then observed in practice which will give insight into the believability of documents versus reality.

So what are the outcomes of these types of first impressions?

• If you are in an audit it might change the audit agenda (for better if your chart is great and worse if you have some of the characteristics above) and lead to findings.
• If the chart is part of a due diligence analysis (a bank lending money, a major contract, possible acquisition) the impression from a bad organizational chart could break the deal because of the message about the health of the company.

There is no right way to create an organization chart though there are many wrong ways. This document conveys a first impression to stakeholders in your company. Take a look at your chart again and think about the message your boxes are sending. Is this the message you meant to send?

Have questions? Email me, I'll be happy to help.

Processes decrease stress

Do you have processes in your business? Of course you do. Do you have your core processes documented? "Mmmm, well some, no, I don't know." You should; let me tell you why.

Your customers expect consistent quality and consistent results. You may have a system for delivering to customer expectations but is it documented. Why document this system? So that you can leave the office once in awhile and the staff can carry on with consistent service. If a problem comes up then the documented processes can guide the staff to resolution, they won't need to call you.

Maybe you don't have a staff. Writing your processes down can still help. Write down all the essential things that must get done, when, how, and with whom. If you do this then those times where you feel completely overwhelmed or have a scatterbrain or feeling lost you can use your processes as a guide to keep business on track. You don't have to keep track of the details in your head.

Documenting processes gives you a tool for ensuring tasks don't get forgotten and customers receive quality products or services. Not having to rely on your intervention for this to happen every day should take some of the anxiety and stress off you day and allow you to focus on other aspects of your business. It might even let you have a full nights rest without worry.

Consistency, quality, reliability, and delegation result from documented processes and this should give you peace of mind.

If you need help please contact me. It is important for you to focus on growing your business, let me show you how.

Strategy and a box of crayons

I've been through many facilitated strategy sessions, I have reviewed many small business strategy plans, and I have read many books on different strategy methodologies.

Conclusion: Setting strategy for your business is like drawing a picture using a box of 64 crayons.

Here's what I mean: There are some gifted people that can pull just one color out of the box and create beautiful masterpieces. (These are the companies with no written strategy document and achieve wild success anyway). There are some people who can use every color in the box and create a beautiful masterpiece with all the colors. (These are companies with very detailed and specific strategy documents and execution plans.)

For most of us, assuming we have the gift of "coloring," we could do well with 5, 8, 16 colors to make a successful drawing. To express our thoughts we need some colors but not too many.

A strategy planning session and document is the same thing to me. You don't have to have one, I know many, many companies don't. But if you don't, you will need that special talent of articulating all the elements of running a business to anyone you interact with: customers, staff, bankers, lawyers, accountants, investors, etc. And be able to know when you are doing well or not doing well to make course corrections. The entire success and failure of the company depends on your participation and without you there will be no strategy, no drawing.

I have seen companies spend 5 figure dollars for an extremely detailed strategy document tracking all the minutia of running the company. It had the answer to everything. Expect that by the time it was built life had moved on and it wasn't so relevant or required too much time to maintain. And I have experienced a series of these documents created each year to take their place of reverence on a bookshelf, never to be opened again.

I believe a strategy document that is somewhere in the middle suits most of us. We need to write down where we want the company to go (mission and vision) and we need to write down, at some level, how we are going to get there. Depending on your company and your leaders this document is going to be different - it is your picture.

Strategy is important. It communicates your goals and how you want to get there. Why do you need to share? The accountant may be able to structure a more favorable tax approach. The banker may be willing to give you a lager line of credit or more favorable rates. Your customers will "get" your business because your staff "gets" your vision.

Strategy doesn't need to be complicated but it needs to be written. Your business is your masterpiece, pick your colors wisely.

Culture Takes Effort

I hear people talk about good culture, bad culture, relaxed culture, uptight culture, etc. But what is this thing we call culture? One definition is that culture is your reason for "being" and your "heart and soul."

I like this definition, it focuses on the foundation that the business is built on and the core ideologies of the leaders. But practically defining culture is not easy and is hard to find tangible evidence for it improving work productivity. Let's explore further why culture is so important.

1. All other business processes, systems, and customers are influenced by the culture.
If it is built on trust, your company is trustworthy.
If it is built on integrity, your company is reliable.
If it is built on profitability, your company is looking to improve sales, etc.
But these are not inter-related unless the leaders make them this way. You could have a company that focuses on integrity but tends to give away product to please the customer. You may have a company that focuses on profitability, seemingly at any cost to the customer (selling them product they don't need so you meet your quota).

2. Setting and changing culture requires effort. If the leaders core ideology is trust, integrity and profitability - all together - then how do they develop that culture within the company? Establishing or changing culture is a long and repeated education process. The leaders need to define what is important, give examples, provide rewards, be consistent, and take all opportunities to act in this manner to set examples. And this should flow down to the next line managers and down to the staff.

3. Culture makes vision, mission and strategy clearer. With a core ideology to guide the leaders, the direction the company must take to be successful shapes itself and helps to align the strategy with the culture.

4. Culture helps define what type of people you need to hire and retain. The people working for you not only need to have the appropriate skill set but they also need to match your culture. If not you will have a bad fit and the supervisory headaches to follow.

5. Culture then helps define your processes and your organization design.

Around and around it goes, your culture is the foundation of your success. Do you know how you define your culture? Do you work at ensuring this culture permeates the entire organization? We can measure the impact of your culture.

Transform Your Business - 7 steps

There is only one overarching business system for every business. It has 7 steps.

1. RESULTS
2. ENVIRONMENT
3. SYSTEMS
4. STRUCTURE
5. CORE PROCESS
6. STRATEGY
7. CULTURE

The first two elements are external to your control.
1.The results are what happen and are measurable. If we use a black box analogy, the results are outside the box and occur as a result of what happens inside the box.

2. The environment is the world in which you operate. Is it a small local business, on the Internet, highly regulated, a corporate political club, seasonal, real estate affected by rate changes, etc. The environment is all the outside influencing factors on your business, primarily the things you have no direct control. I like to think of these as my constraints.

So we get results which are constrained to a degree by our environment. The remainder of the steps are completely within our control and is the difference between poor, good, and great business performance. Systems, structure, core processes, strategy, culture are sequential yet inter-related steps that we can evaluate, define and measure. Tomorrow we will discuss these steps. Today think about what results you measure and what constraints you have on your business.

Find your center

Yesterday I had the opportunity to listen and watch to some great motivational speakers. One of the topics they talked about was success and how to visualize success. Basically, you cannot just visualize the "finish line" you need to see what it looks like when your done. I absolutely agree as this keeps you from stopping short of your ultimate goals.

For an example the speaker used an analogy of breaking a pine board. Now, if you have done this before this task isn't that hard, but it isn't easy either. There is some technique required to be successful.

So the speaker brought up a volunteer and told her to visualize having broken the board, told her to practice the basic move, told her to act like she was Arnold Schwarzenegger and off she tried. 1, 2, 3 ka-bam - the board did not break. The speaker coached her some more and she tried two more times. She was a focused student but the board did not break.

This is what I saw. The speaker gave her a goal and showed her how to use the tool of a punch but he did not show her how to find her center, her foundation. See the trick to this task is to use the power of your core and drive that power through the board. Sure, if you are a strong person you can bust a board with just the strength of your arms, but that is not the point of harnessing your strength.

Find your center. Which means know where you come from, know where your strength lives inside you. Set up this foundation as the basis of beginning. If you don't have a solid foundation you decrease your chances of success at the end.

This women needed to set her feet, bend her knees and feel the power that runs through her body. This power is what needed to be focused on the spot just past the board, not just her hand. Be strong and focus your strength just past the finish line. You will find success.

Synergy - Growth - Success

Synergy, how we work together.
Growth, how we learn from each other.
Success, the fruits of our labors.

I named my company based on these principles because it is so important to remember. We cannot make it all alone, we must interact with others. This is fortunate because the people you meet add color and flavor to your life. You can use this interaction to learn or you can ignore it.

Interaction with other people is sometimes pleasant, sometimes not so pleasant but all times a learning opportunity for both of you. You can become a stronger, smarter, more centered individual if you accept the lessons of life and act on them.

Acting on the lessons lead us to success. Success has different meanings for each of us. Each definition success requires effort.

How do you create synergies in your life, in your work? Are you taking the time to learn from these opportunities and grow? Share your successes with others. Let me know how it's going.

Chance favors an open mind

I have had the fortune of meeting two strangers that became friends in the last month, each providing a new outlook on the meaning of accomplishment and success.

How do strangers become friends? Be ready.

It is so easy to get caught in your usual routine, doing the same daily tasks you always do. There is comfort in a predictable life and that is understandable. But consider, once in awhile, peeking over the clouds of routine and look around to see the unknown.

My life is usually booked, minute to minute, that's how I like it. But last month I stopped to talk to someone that I may usually miss because I felt opportunity. I didn't know what it was but I stopped for a moment and spent some time with this person. It turns out this is a friend I had not yet met and we have many things to share. I feel very lucky for taking the time.

And then again this week, for some reason I contacted another stranger, no particular agenda, but just to stop and listen to opportunity. And again, it turns out we have many things to share and learn from each other. I think this meeting might turn out to be another special relationship.

But it would have been easy to keep my head down and do those things that are comfortable. What I know is that if we want to grow we need to embrace change, opportunity, and be willing.

Open your mind to possibilities that you do not know - you might find just the thing you were missing.

How do you know it's better or worse?

Change happens every day. We hope that it is improving performance. Sometimes we claim it is making things worse. How do you know?

Measure the things that are important.

As humans, we like to know how much better and how much worse things are. We like to seek approval or avoid punishment. As a manager, as a leader, you need to give this feedback to your staff.

Define activities that matter to your organization. What results do you expect and how do you know those results are met? Set those measures as performance standards. Set a baseline. Communicate the measures and performance expectations to your staff.

Now, enforce those performance expectations. When the staff does work to make things better - reward them. If the staff does work that makes things worse - counsel and coach them. Everyone will know when it is better and when it is worse.